Sexual Offenders Abundant in Texas? (Houston, Dallas: sales, sex offenders, crime)

[Transplanted99]

When checking out crime maps, I came across crimereports.com. It seems to offer a reasonable overview, and is easy to filter.

However...

When comparing to where I live now, the Dallas area is carpeted with flags (little red triangles) for sexual offenders (there are so many it takes about a minute to render on the screen after the other crime flags - clicking on any one gives a real name and photo of the offender). Eyeballing it, it outnumbers where I live by a factor between 5 to 1 and 10 to 1!

I checked out Austin, to see if Dallas was somehow a beacon for these people, but while it was noticeably lighter, it still was some order of magnitude greater than my home city in Maryland.

My intuition says this is not apples to apples (are Texans that much more inclined toward this behavior...I think not on the whole across 5 million people). The initial impact of seeing that is most disturbing though!

Does anyone have any insight to either the methodology that Texas law enforcement uses for reporting this, or the Texas laws that might be different from elsewhere?

Also, are there any other crime mapping service that covers the entire metroplex (vs one city at a time)?

[High_Plains_Retired]

My guess based on being a native Texan and having lived in Maryland for almost a decade is a difference in the tolerance for criminality between the two states. Maryland is well known for a liberal mentality while Texas is not, or to be fair, Texas is well known for a conservative mentality while Maryland is not. Less tolerance means more convictions.

[Transplanted99]

Originally Posted by High_Plains_Retired

My guess ... is a difference in the tolerance for criminality between the two states ... Less tolerance means more convictions.

Personally, I prefer the more conservative law enforcement approach, so this is not a dig on Texas.

I agree there is some difference due to this, but would it really be that magnitude different? If stricter laws were it, I'd expect more of those types of folks to be locked up instead of released back onto the street at that volume.

I scanned around to find something comparable to the Dallas area in this regard...found eastern part of DC and Prince Georges County (MD). If you are familiar w Maryland, you know that area is a hotbed of crime. Comparing geographic span for the same density of flags and I find that the area covered in Dallas is much wider. It is not until you hit well into the northern suburbs of Dallas does it really thin out, and still not to the extent and span that I see in DC neighbors of Montgomery County (MD) or in Fairfax County (in the law and order state of VA).

So, I don't think lower tolerance explains the whole difference. My guess is that the reporting from Texas may include convict-able offenses that are under a different label in other states (vs sex offender). Alternatively, could it be that the population is generally less well off and this is a consequence or symptom of that?

[DanielWayne]

I am from Houston, but am in Fairfax on business this week. After watching/reading the local news (crime in DC and Baltimore is pretty bad, 2 COPS were assaulted by 1 man in DC) and an airplane shuttle ride through a loooong rough stretch of town that rivals anything in Texas, I am ready to get home. Fairfax is fantastic, but this region is like the land of haves and have-nots with little in between. I think Texas geography (spread out cities) and the fact that the people with less money are really concentrated in DC/possibly Maryland may have a part in this explanation.

[jtur88]

Of all children who are abused to an extent that required reporting and intervention, only about one out of 15 has been sexually abused.

National Child Abuse Statistics | Childhelp

And 2/3 of all children who have been sexually abused, the perpetrator is a member or friend of the family, which means only about one out of 50 cases of child abuse is perpetrated by a stranger who may or may not be on the sex offender registry. One out of 50. Think about that. It is time for people to stop their hysteria about sexual predators and get on with their lives, and create wholesome environments for their children to grow up and play and form healthy socialization patterns based on something other than irrational fear of every stranger.

While it is not on the statistical list of child abuse, you are abusing your child and retarding his healthy development if you instill pathological fear in him about every neighbor up and down the street, and deny them the opportunity for independent play and exploration of their world.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by Transplanted99

I scanned around to find something comparable to the Dallas area in this regard...found eastern part of DC and Prince Georges County (MD). If you are familiar w Maryland, you know that area is a hotbed of crime.?

Yes. My office was in Prince Georges County. I probably know more about it than the Dallas area. It was a snakepit of crime in the 1980s.

Wasn't Montgomery County once one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S.? I seem to recall that somewhere.

Originally Posted by Transplanted99

Alternatively, could it be that the population is generally less well off and this is a consequence or symptom of that?

Remember, one cannot go by income comparisons alone in the two places. Housing in MD is (well, at least it was) about twice what it was any where in Texas, even in Dallas. The average salary when we were in MD in the 1980s I believe was around $60,000 and I made more than that. However, MD housing expenses, state and county income and sales taxes greatly impacted that income. I didn't move from Maryland to Dallas but I did move to Albuquerque, a somewhat comparable city, and my NM home was twice the house I had in MD and for less money.

My guess the differences lie in the way the data is reported but that is only a guess on my part.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

I am from Houston, but am in Fairfax on business this week. After watching/reading the local news (crime in DC and Baltimore is pretty bad, 2 COPS were assaulted by 1 man in DC) and an airplane shuttle ride through a loooong rough stretch of town that rivals anything in Texas, I am ready to get home.

Years ago, as I walked behind the Library of Congress during the afternoon, someone shot a large caliber handgun in an alleyway very near to where I was walking. There was a couple walking toward me and I thought they were shooting at me and they thought the same of me. We all ducked before we realized that the shot came from the alleyway. And that was when handguns were still banned in D.C.

Stay safe.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Transplanted99

When checking out crime maps, I came across crimereports.com. It seems to offer a reasonable overview, and is easy to filter.

However...

When comparing to where I live now, the Dallas area is carpeted with flags (little red triangles) for sexual offenders (there are so many it takes about a minute to render on the screen after the other crime flags - clicking on any one gives a real name and photo of the offender). Eyeballing it, it outnumbers where I live by a factor between 5 to 1 and 10 to 1!

I checked out Austin, to see if Dallas was somehow a beacon for these people, but while it was noticeably lighter, it still was some order of magnitude greater than my home city in Maryland.

My intuition says this is not apples to apples (are Texans that much more inclined toward this behavior...I think not on the whole across 5 million people). The initial impact of seeing that is most disturbing though!

Does anyone have any insight to either the methodology that Texas law enforcement uses for reporting this, or the Texas laws that might be different from elsewhere?

Also, are there any other crime mapping service that covers the entire metroplex (vs one city at a time)?

I agree that crimereports.com seems to show a surprisingly large number of sex offenders in Texas. I recall reading that Texas brands even juvenile offenders as sex offenders. So if two underage teenagers are caught having sex they could both be in the data base. Texas also includes anyone convicted of indecent exposure as a sex offender for 10 years. So if someone got caught taking a leak in an alley or streaking they would be listed.

Try this heat map for crime, it does not include every city yet, it is still in beta, but I like the format. Crime Map Beta - Trulia

[CptnRn]

This map of sex offenders per capita by state indicates that Texas is in the average range, with 243 offenders per 10,000 people.

Map: Registered Sex Offenders By State : NPR

[TurtleCreek80]

1. Is the list of sex offender crimes the same in TX & MD? I don't know the answer, just posing the question. Does a count of indecent exposure or child porn possession carry the "sex offender" label in MD? How are domestic sex incidents reported in MD vs TX? I'm certainly not excusing any sex offenders, but when I was buying a home, I really studied WHAT the crimes were vs how many. As a single woman, if I had to choose between equal homes- one with someone convicted of child porn possession and one with an someone who assaulted a female, I'd go with the child porn neighbor. Obviously someone who has children may make a different decision.

2. Have you compare the number of violent sex crime (assault, rape, etc) PER CAPITA in both states? I'm assuming there is equally low tolerance for violent sex crimes in both states (vs porn possession and "lesser" crimes).

3. Texas has, what, 25,000,000? residents - several times that of Maryland. Are you examining on a per capita basis or total number?

In the end, TX may have more sex offenders than MD. But you have to try to get to an equal comparison point before making the call.